IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs Microsoft System Center comparison

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Microsoft System Center

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

17th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.6

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) (9th)

Microsoft System Center

Ranking in Application Infrastructure

13th

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.8

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Cloud Monitoring Software (19th)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Application Infrastructure category, the mindshare of IBM WebSphere Message Broker is 1.9%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Microsoft System Center is 1.5%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Application Infrastructure Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Microsoft System Center	1.5%
IBM WebSphere Message Broker	1.9%
Other	96.6%

Application Infrastructure

Featured Reviews

BrajendraKumar

Technical Architect at HCL Technologies

Offers large-sized business information processing with a time-saving setup and impressive stability

I primarily use two previews of the product for Dev and two for QA as part of the production process. Whatever tools our company is using, the cost of a license in IBM WebSphere Message Broker is about 80% of all these software or tools. The message routing capabilities satisfy workflow efficiency. The product supports message formats of XML, JSON, and SSID, which are around 24 KB to 50 KB in size. The solution supports communication protocols like STTP and TCP. Features like DataGraph need to be introduced in IBM WebSphere Message Broker. Some of the clients of our organization are using an outdated version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker for which the vendor doesn't provide direct support anymore. For the aforementioned version, our company professionals can solve the queries on their own without seeking support from IBM. During the installation of a prior version of IBM WebSphere Message Broker, sometimes I have to configure the failovers through the cluster, where issues arise, and I often seek help from the support team. The solution is being used by some medicine companies in our organization that receive sales orders from the EDR or JDE. I would not recommend the product to others as its becoming obsolete and they can rather choose a middleware solution from Amazon or Azure. But I would overall rate the product a nine out of ten.

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Carl Palapal

Sr. Sys. Server & Storage Egineer / Tech .Consultant at CANAR OFFICE SYSTEMS

Provides comprehensive system management with effective deployment and integration capabilities

The advantages of Microsoft System Center are significant, and I have seen other products as well. As far as advantages are concerned, they have PXE deployment, which is good for deploying operating systems, such as Windows client systems including Windows 10 and Windows 11. Since it is a Microsoft product, all the patches are proprietary, making it easier to deploy. In Microsoft System Center, all the features are integrated already, whereas in ManageEngine, you have to license each feature individually to access those features. The automated features of Virtual Machine Manager are very useful; it automates as long as the policy that I have created is in line with the objective, especially the templates when I'm going to deploy. Regarding endpoint management, Microsoft System Center is very helpful; it has integrated endpoint protection deployment, allowing me to handle endpoint configuration, system deployment, and patch deployment, making it an all-in-one stop shop for managing and configuring end clients. The impact of using Microsoft System Center is significant; it gives me a whole picture of my environment, making it easy to get inventory details regarding applications and hardware, providing full visibility of my setup within the organization.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"It is a scalable solution...The setup is easy."

"The solution has good integration."

"We only use the basic features, but the most valuable one for us is the Publish-subscribe pattern."

"Straightforward development and deployment."

"IBM WebSphere Message Broker is one of the best middleware solutions"

"Message Broker is valuable because most of the applications are using MQ. Even in my current engagement, the few applications which I audit to onboard the bank are using MQ."

"The transactions and message queuing are the most valuable features of the solution."

"Integration and mapping are easy, which is a major advantage."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker pros

"The tool has many valuable features, including license tracking, software deployment, and installation deployment. However, we primarily use it for Windows updates and deployment for Windows servers and desktops. It's a complex product but very well-managed. If you use all the features, they will be valuable to your organization. It allows you to deploy desktops, manage patches, and track various features."

"System Center helps to create the basis for ITIL alignment."

"We like Microsoft System Center's Operations Manager. That is primarily why we use it."

"Many processes could be implemented out-of-the-box, and this helped to adopt processes in areas which we lacked."

"The solution is easily available. That's its most valuable aspect."

"Step-by-step documentation that clarifies the implementation procedure."

"The features that I have found most valuable are the ease of configuration and the easy discovery of the environment."

"The impact of using Microsoft System Center is significant; it gives me a whole picture of my environment, making it easy to get inventory details regarding applications and hardware, providing full visibility of my setup within the organization."

More Microsoft System Center pros

Cons

"The solution can add container engines such as docker."

"Today I probably wouldn't go for Message Broker because of the cost structure, support, and the whole ecosystem around IBM."

"As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordingly."

"The installation configuration is quite difficult."

"The user interface is designed mainly for experts, much in the way a BPM or another integration tool is."

"Technical support is good but they could have a better response time."

"Technical support is very slow and needs to be improved."

"There is some lag in the GUI. There have been some performance issues and maybe it's because of the application data."

More IBM WebSphere Message Broker cons

"Less server consumption would help, as would better, more flexible reports."

"System Center hasn't updated to keep up with the industry. It needs improvements in the user interface, ease of use, and overall product functionality, particularly the cloud-monitoring features. It needs more capabilities to monitor AWS and Azure infrastructure."

"The disadvantage of Microsoft System Center is related to the many integrated services; if one service is failing, then all features will be affected."

"The solution's dashboard needs improvement."

"For me, the tool's UI seems to be too old."

"The platform's performance could be improved. Additionally, its UI needs to be well-upgraded and work faster."

"Something super important that we need is this integration via Intune Configuration Manager."

"The platform performance and responsiveness need improvement. It still demands high computing resources."

More Microsoft System Center cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM products are generally more stable and have more features, but also come at a greater cost."

"This product is more expensive than competing products."

"IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time."

"The solution is expensive."

"The price is very high and it's the main reason that we are searching for alternatives."

"I feel with IBM, when you want certain functions or features, you have to continuously purchase add-ons. There are always additional fees."

"The solution is expensive."

"The licensing cost of IBM WebSphere Message Broker needs to be reduced"

"I rate the product price as five to six on a scale of one to ten, where one means it is cheap and ten means it is expensive."

"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a six out of ten."

"I know that sometimes there is some reduction in the prices of Microsoft System Center because of the costs of Microsoft SQL Server, which can be advantageous."

"We maximized our license investment."

"Microsoft System Center is quite expensive."

"Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly."

"It's rolled into our enterprise subscription. The entire subscription is around $25,000 a year, however, that covers all the products that we use."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

20%

Computer Software Company

11%

Insurance Company

Manufacturing Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	2
Large Enterprise	10

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	7
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	10

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

IBM software can be costly, but having a contract has helped manage and potentially lower costs over time.

What needs improvement with IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

There could be greater flexibility and agility in service creation for the product. As our business requirements evolve, we require more dynamic capabilities to adapt and scale our services accordi...

What is your primary use case for IBM WebSphere Message Broker?

We use the product for exposing services at the application level, integrating with various architectures like WebSphere, and handling static service creation.

What do you like most about Microsoft System Center?

The product's initial setup phase was easy.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Microsoft System Center?

Microsoft System Center's licensing is costly.

What needs improvement with Microsoft System Center?

The disadvantage of Microsoft System Center is related to the many integrated services; if one service is failing, then all features will be affected. For example, with site configuration, when one...

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Product Reports

IBM WebSphere Message Broker

Download IBM WebSphere Message Broker product report

Microsoft System Center

Download Microsoft System Center product report

Also Known As

WebSphere Message Broker

MS System Center

Overview

WebSphere Message Broker is an enterprise service bus (ESB) providing connectivity and universal data transformation for service-oriented architecture (SOA) and non-SOA environments. It allows businesses of any size to eliminate point-to-point connections and batch processing regardless of platform, protocol or data format.

IBM

System Center helps customers realize the benefits of the Microsoft Cloud Platform by delivering unified management. Experience fast time-to-value with out-of-the-box monitoring, provisioning, configuration, automation, protection and self-service.

Microsoft

Sample Customers

WestJet, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Sharp Corporation, Michelin Tire

Kassen_rztliche Vereinigung Nordrhein, Magyar Telekom Nyrt., Adeka, QualCare, Aeriandi, UniCredit Bank d.d., Mostar, Allianz Australia Ltd., Grupo Familia

IBM WebSphere Message Broker vs. Microsoft System Center